Judge defers ruling for Grace Road directors

GRACE Road directors Daniel Kim and Sung Jing Li will know next week whether they’ll be released from detention or not.

The matter was listed for a ruling yesterday, however, Justice Anare Tuilevuka noted his ruling was not ready.

Justice Tuilevuka informed the court that while in the process of scripting his ruling, he had also taken into consideration the other substantive matter in the case against Mr Kim and his other directors.

The court also heard that the State has applied to appeal the judge’s earlier decision to grant leave for a judicial review on the decision by the Minister for Home Affairs to deport Mr Kim and his colleagues.

Justice Tuilevuka commented that he found the leave to appeal application unusual because he has not made any finding yet.

Last month, Justice Tuilevuka ruled that the defence raised an arguable case in his judicial review ruling.

The six grounds for judicial review filed by the Grace Road executives counsels noted that extradition procedures were not followed, no written reasons were given by the minister for his decision, there was a lack of procedural fairness, the minister misunderstood his jurisdiction, the decision was irrational and lacked proportionality, and that the minister acted under bad faith or under the dictation of the Republic of Korea.

Defence lawyer Ronald Gordon told the court they would need 28 days to file and serve their affidavit in response to the AttorneyGeneral’s application for leave to appeal.

Justice Tuilevuka will deliver his ruling on release from detention next Tuesday.